1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and a method thereof. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a recording apparatus which supports recording by memorizing recording patterns of the user, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image recording and reproducing apparatus for recording a broadcasting signal on a recording medium or reproducing the recorded broadcasting signal expands its functions according to digitalization of the broadcasting signal and development of the compression technology. The image recording and reproducing apparatus has been improved to support utilization of various image sources such as a satellite broadcast, a cable broadcast and a network broadcast based on an Internet. Furthermore, the image recording and reproducing apparatus can store data on an optical medium such as a CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory) title or a DVD (digital versatile disc) title or reproduce the stored data according to digitalization of the data and development of the compression technology. For example, the optical medium for storing image data and audio data for the DVD title generally stores a few hundred Megabytes to a few Gigabytes of data, and thus easily stores or reads a large volume of data by using an HDD (hard disk driver) which is a large capacity memory. The representative example of the image recording and reproducing apparatuses is a DVD/HDD image recording and reproducing apparatus. A DVD ROM for reproducing data recorded on a disk and an HDD for recording and reproducing data are combined in one casing. The DVD ROM and the HDD perform individual functions and share an interface for mutual data transmission and reception. In general, the DVD ROM reproduces data recorded on an optical disk recording medium such as a DVD, an audio CD, a video CD and an MP3 CD.
The DVD/HDD image recording and reproducing apparatus receives an external broadcasting signal, records data on the HDD or externally outputs the data, and records data reproduced by the DVD ROM on the HDD. When recording the signal reproduced by the DVD ROM or the external signal on the HDD, a plurality of programs are recordable on the large capacity HDD.
The DVD/HDD image recording and reproducing apparatus will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a conventional DVD/HDD combo system having a DVD player and an HDD.
The DVD reproducing apparatus includes a switching unit 10, an MPEG encoder unit 20, an HDD 30, a flash ROM 40, a control unit 50, a RAM (random access memory) 60, a light receiving unit 70, a digital signal processing unit 80 and a DVD reproducing and recording apparatus 90.
The switching unit 10 receives image data and/or voice data from sources, or outputs image data from the decoder unit 80 to display apparatus 85, for example. The switching unit 10 receives an external signal such as a component signal or a composite signal from a video source (not shown), and selectively connects the signal to functional blocks of the image recording and reproducing apparatus. For example, where the external signal is the component or composite signal, the switching unit 10 applies the signal to the MPEG encoder unit 20.
The MPEG encoder unit 20 includes a video decoder 21, an audio ADC (analog-to-digital converter) 22 and an MPEG encoder 23, AD-converts an analog image data source from the switching unit 10, and compresses the converted image data in the form of an MPEG format (for example, MPEG-2 format). Generally, when stored in a storage medium such as the HDD 30, the MPEG format image data are compressed to reduce a storage space.
The HDD 30 stores and reads the MPEG format image data and sound data in a data recording area in a form of a file.
The flash ROM 40 stores an operating system and an application program for operating the DVD reproducing recording apparatus 90 which will be explained below, and includes an application program for displaying the image data and audio data stored in the HDD 30 in the form of a file and supplementary information (such as icon, title name, recording time, and file size) on the screen through a GUI (graphic user interface) type menu, and for editing and displaying the image data and audio data through the displayed menu.
The control unit 50 stores the MPEG data from the MPEG encoder unit 20 in the HDD 30, or applies the image data and voice data stored in the HDD 30 to the digital signal processing unit 80. In order to reproduce and/or record the DVD, the control unit 50 reads information on the DVD title from the disk information file area, and records the information on a route directory area of the HDD 30. In addition, the control unit 50 reads and displays the related GUI screen from the flash ROM 40 to display on the screen the icon and title name corresponding to the image data stored in the HDD 30 in the form of a file, by executing the application program stored in the flash ROM 40.
The RAM 60 loads the file stored in the HDD 30 when the control unit 50 edits the file. That is, the file is not directly edited in the HDD 30, but edited in the RAM 60 and re-stored in the HDD 30.
The light receiving unit 70 receives a control signal (not shown) from a remote controller (not shown) for controlling the image recording and reproducing apparatus (for example, channel change, volume control, and image quality control) or a setup key of the image recording and reproducing apparatus, and applies the control signal to the control unit 50.
The digital signal processing unit 80 receives the MPEG format image data stored in the HDD 30 through the control unit 50, decodes the image data, and converts the decoded data to a video format (for example, NTSC/PAL). The converted signal can be reproduced by an image display apparatus such as a TV.
The DVD reproducing and recording apparatus 90 reads the image data and audio data from a DVD disk and applies the data to the control unit 50, or receives the signal from the control unit 50 and records the image and audio data on the DVD disk. Accordingly, the image data and audio data applied to the control unit 50 are stored in the HDD 30, or applied to and reproduced by the digital signal processing unit 80.
When the user intends to perform reservation recording by using the above apparatus, the control unit 50 displays the data stored in the flash ROM 40 and supplementary information necessary for reservation recording, such as for example, recording time, channel, recording speed (or recording density), and recording medium, input by the user on the screen through a GUI type menu as shown in a reservation recording table of FIG. 2. Generally, the user can input a recorded broadcasting channel, a reservation date, a recording start time and a recording end time as the information necessary for reservation recording. The reservation contents are stored in the flash ROM 40. In the recording time, the set channel is received by the switching unit 10, and signals are processed by the MPEG encoder unit 20 and recorded on the HDD 30. It has been described that the user directly inputs the necessary information to the reservation recording screen, but it is also possible to automatically receive and store related reservation contents by using data such as a program guide.
However, when reservation recording has been set in the image recording and reproducing apparatus, there is no way to check whether reservation recording has been successfully performed. That is, the user can confirm it by wholly reproducing the recording medium.
When the user sets reservation recording, if a plurality of recording media exists, the user can select one of the recording media. If a residual capacity of the set recording medium is deficient during recording, the set recording medium is firstly fully used, and then replaced by another recording medium. The user is not informed of change of the recording medium. Accordingly, the user has to check the recording media one by one to confirm recorded contents.
On the other hand, even though the user designates the recording speed, if a residual capacity of the recording medium is deficient, the recording speed is controlled to record the whole reservation program. There is no way for the user to confirm change of the speed.